Blue Origin is building a lunar lander aptly called the Blue Moon. Jeff Bezos has announced his space company's shared goal with NASA to go back to our planet's fateful companion in the next few years at an event for media and space industry executives. There, the tech exec has also revealed that Blue Origin is developing a new engine called BE-7 with a 10,000 lbf thrust, strong enough to power the rocket that's ferrying the lander and its large payloads to space. Its first test fire could happen as soon as this summer 2019.

Blue Origin says the cargo variant it has just revealed can carry 3.6 metric tons to its destination. It's also working on another variant that's capable of carrying a "6.5-metric-ton, human-rated ascent stage." While Bezos didn't mention particular dates, the company believes it can meet the government's goal of putting Americans back on the moon by 2024.

The Blue Moon initiative seeks to build infrastructure on the surface of Earth's natural satellite to the point that entrepreneurs can start building space businesses. Bezos talked about the possibility of harnessing resources there for energy back home, since ours are bound to run out in the future. In addition, he said the moon is a good place for manufacturing, since it will take 24 times less energy to haul materials from its surface compared to the Earth due to its lower gravity.

© Thomson Reuters Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of Amazon Jeff Bezos unveils the BE-7 rocket engine that his space company Blue Origin's space exploration lunar lander rocket called Blue Moon will use during an unveiling event in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

A couple of years ago, when Bezos first teased the project, he said it would start by sending a couple of tons of cargo to the moon to build a lunar base -- it sounds like that's still what the company intends to do. "It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay," he said.

What’s Blue Origin’s motto? “Gradatim Ferociter” is Latin for “Step by Step, Ferociously.” Bezos says that’s his approach to spaceflight. “If you’re building a flying vehicle, you can’t cut any corners. If you do, it’s going to be [just] an illusion that it’s going to make it faster. … You have to do it step by step, but you do want to do it ferociously.”
Why is there a winged hourglass on Blue Origin’s coat of arms? Bezos says that’s “a Victorian cemetery symbol which means ‘time is fleeting.’ We don’t have forever.”
Why is Blue Origin’s mascot a tortoise? The lesson from the fable of the hare and the tortoise is that “slow and steady wins the race.” Bezos puts a different twist on the tale: “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” The mascot also may be a commentary on other commercial space ventures that leap into aggressive schedules but don’t end up meeting them, like the hare in the fable. After each successful New Shepard flight, Blue Origin’s team paints a tortoise on the capsule’s hatch.

What’s the meaning of Blue Origin’s feather logo? “The feather is simple,” Bezos said. “It’s just a symbol of the perfection of flight. For thousands of years, we humans have been looking up at the birds, and wondering what it would be like to fly. … I think it’s representative of freedom and exploration and mobility and progress. For the people who are in love with flight, there is no substitute.” Blue Origin employees can sometimes be seen wearing silver feather lapel pins (flown in space, of course!).